The idea isn't to build something that is fancier than it needs to be. But the idea is to innovate and keep pesky asics off the network in a way that shows everyone the dero team's technical ability. If making a new algo for each block is unreasonable/crazy then the team doesn't need to spend months banging their head up against the wall trying something they cant make happen. But if we can differentiate dero, before smart contracts are launched, from other cryptonote coins that says a lot about the Captains ability to make new tech. He has already proved he has insane ability. Re-writing a protocol in a new language from scratch is not easy. But if he can make a new protocol before smart contracts, at that point I would need to sell the farm to go all-in.

PS:
anyone who thinks this isn't that big of a feat, go back to the monero hydra we forked from originally and try to understand the code. Dependencies on dependencies on dependencies, you have to understand blockchain, cryptography, bitwise operators, cryptonote public/private key schemes which are very complex. This guy re-wrote everything in a short amount of time, he can make computers do crazy things. He can also make a blockchain however he damn pleases